Bureaucratic Autonomy and the Policymaking Capacity of United States Agencies, 1998-2021
Nicholas R. Bednar
University of Minnesota Law School
Date: June 2023

"Read Me" File

The following file documents the contents of the data repository on PSRM Dataverse. The following documents are contained on Dataverse:

1.	"Read Me" file that explains the organization of the data. (This file.)

2.	Main Capacity Scores (NOTE: If seeking to use measures for your own work, use this file.)
		a. Codebook: "Policymaking Capacity Scores Codebook.pdf"
		a. Data: "Policymaking Capacity Scores.csv" 

3.	Data and Scripts Needed for Replication of Main Results
		a. Codebook: "Replication Data for Bureaucratic Autonomy and the Policymaking Capacity of United States Agencies Codebook.pdf"
		b. R Script: "Bureaucratic Autonomy and Policymaking Capacity_Main Analysis.R"	
		c. Data: "analysis_data.csv"
		d. Data: "rulemaking_data.csv"
		e. Data: "model_parameters.csv"	
		f. R Log File: "analysis_log.txt"

4.	A STAN model for estimation of policymaking-capacity scores.
		a. STAN Model: "model.STAN"

5.	A codebook for the EHRI Data, a list of agencies for which scores are estimated, and agency-aggregated EHRI Data.
		a. Codebook: "EHRI Codebook.pdf"
		b. Agency List: "AGENCY_LIST.csv"
		c. EHRI Data: "ehri_data.csv"
		d. EHRI Data w/ OEWS Salary Adjustment: "ehri_data_oews.csv"

6.	R Files to Estimate Different Specifications of Scores.
	WARNING: Depending on the computer's specifications, estimation may take hours or prove impossible. 
	Initial estimation was completed on a machine with the following relevant characteristics:
	-Microsoft Windows 10 Education
	-CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12-Core Processor 3.79 Ghz
	-RAM: 64.0 GB
	-Average Estimation Time per Measure: ~6 hours.
		THESE FILES APPEAR IN "Model_Scripts.zip"
		a. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_001_MAINSPECIFICATION.R"
		b. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_002.R"
		c. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_003.R"
		d. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_004.R"
		e. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_005.R"
		f. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_006.R"
		g. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_007.R"
		h. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_008.R"
		i. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_009.R"
		j. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_010.R"
		k. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_011.R"
		l. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_012.R"
		m. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_013.R"
		n. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_014.R"
		o. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_015.R"
		p. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_016.R"
		q. "Policymaking_Capacity_Scores_Model_017.R"

7.	The results of estimation from Step 5. Each model produces (1) policymaking-capacity scores and (2) estimates of the model parameters. 
	Specifications of the models described in Online Appendix 1.
		THESE FILES APPEAR IN "Model_Scripts_Results.zip"
		a. "policymaking_scores_m001_primaryspecification_ests.csv"
		b. "policymaking_scores_m001_primaryspecification_params.csv"
		c. "policymaking_scores_m002_ests.csv"
		d. "policymaking_scores_m002_params.csv"
		e. "policymaking_scores_m003_ests.csv"
		f. "policymaking_scores_m003_params.csv"
		g. "policymaking_scores_m004_ests.csv"
		h. "policymaking_scores_m004_params.csv"
		i. "policymaking_scores_m005_ests.csv"
		j. "policymaking_scores_m005_params.csv"
		k. "policymaking_scores_m006_ests.csv"
		l. "policymaking_scores_m006_params.csv"
		m. "policymaking_scores_m007_ests.csv"
		n. "policymaking_scores_m007_params.csv"
		o. "policymaking_scores_m008_ests.csv"
		p. "policymaking_scores_m008_params.csv"
		q. "policymaking_scores_m009_ests.csv"
		r. "policymaking_scores_m009_params.csv"
		s. "policymaking_scores_m010_ests.csv"
		t. "policymaking_scores_m010_params.csv"
		u. "policymaking_scores_m011_ests.csv"
		v. "policymaking_scores_m011_params.csv"
		w. "policymaking_scores_m012_ests.csv"
		x. "policymaking_scores_m012_params.csv"
		y. "policymaking_scores_m013_ests.csv"
		z. "policymaking_scores_m013_params.csv"
		aa. "policymaking_scores_m014_ests.csv"
		ab. "policymaking_scores_m014_params.csv"
		ac. "policymaking_scores_m015_ests.csv"
		ad. "policymaking_scores_m015_params.csv"
		ae. "policymaking_scores_m016_ests.csv"
		af. "policymaking_scores_m016_params.csv"
		ag. "policymaking_scores_m017_ests.csv"
		ah. "policymaking_scores_m017_params.csv"

